{
  "id": 8520786,
  "name": "WILBUR HINSON and Wife, IRENE HINSON v. DAVID HAROLD SMITH and Wife, MAMIE W. SMITH",
  "name_abbreviation": "Hinson v. Smith",
  "decision_date": "1988-03-01",
  "docket_number": "No. 872SC868",
  "first_page": "127",
  "last_page": "131",
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      "cite": "89 N.C. App. 127"
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    "id": 14983,
    "name": "North Carolina Court of Appeals"
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    {
      "cite": "135 S.E. 2d 30",
      "category": "reporters:state_regional",
      "reporter": "S.E.2d",
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      "pin_cites": [
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      "cite": "261 N.C. 414",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "N.C.",
      "case_ids": [
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      "reporter": "S.E.2d",
      "year": 1968,
      "opinion_index": 0
    },
    {
      "cite": "1 N.C. App. 520",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "N.C. App.",
      "case_ids": [
        8554241
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    {
      "cite": "59 S.E. 1012",
      "category": "reporters:state_regional",
      "reporter": "S.E.",
      "year": 1907,
      "opinion_index": 0
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    {
      "cite": "146 N.C. 374",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "N.C.",
      "case_ids": [
        11271369
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      "year": 1907,
      "opinion_index": 0,
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  "analysis": {
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  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T22:39:00.818604+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
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  "casebody": {
    "judges": [
      "Judges Becton and Smith concur."
    ],
    "parties": [
      "WILBUR HINSON and Wife, IRENE HINSON v. DAVID HAROLD SMITH and Wife, MAMIE W. SMITH"
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "HEDRICK, Chief Judge.\nThe only question before us is whether the trial court erred in entering the judgment dismissing plaintiffs\u2019 claim and declaring that \u201cas a matter of law, the Defendants are entitled to quiet enjoyment of the property in question,\u201d and that \u201cas a matter of law, there is no dedication, either expressed or implied, of the controverted property.\u201d\nDedication of an easement may be in express terms or may be implied from the owner\u2019s conduct. Tise v. Whitaker, 146 N.C. 374, 59 S.E. 1012 (1907). Conduct which implies the intent to dedicate may operate as an express dedication, as where a plat is made and land is sold in reference to the plat. Woody v. Clayton, 1 N.C. App. 520, 162 S.E. 2d 132 (1968). In Realty Co. v. Hobbs, 261 N.C. 414, 421, 135 S.E. 2d 30, 35-36 (1964), Justice Clifton Moore, writing for the Court, stated:\nWhere lots are sold and conveyed by reference to a map or plat which represents a division of a tract of land into streets, lots, parks and playgrounds, a purchaser of a lot or lots acquires the right to have the streets, parks and playgrounds kept open for his reasonable use, and this right is not subject to revocation except by agreement. [Citations omitted.] It is said that such streets, parks and playgrounds are dedicated to the use of the lot owners in the development. In a strict sense it is not a dedication, for a dedication must be made to the public and not to a part of the public. [Citations omitted.] It is a right in the nature of an easement appurtenant. Whether it be called an easement or a dedication, the right of the lot owners to the use of the streets, parks and playgrounds may not be extinguished, altered or diminished except by agreement or estoppel. [Citations omitted.] This is true because the existence of the right was an inducement to and a part of the consideration for the purchase of the lots. [Citations omitted.]\nIn the present case, when the plat of Crystal Beach Estates was recorded and one lot was sold in reference to the plat, both the street and the \u201cBeach\u201d became private easements to the individual purchasing the lot. The record clearly discloses that Lots 5, 6, and 7 were conveyed to plaintiffs\u2019 predecessors in title before Lot 29-A and the \u201cadditional tract\u201d of land including a portion of the \u201cBeach\u201d conveyed to defendants\u2019 predecessors in title. It is also clear that the conveyances of the lots refer to the recorded plat of Crystal Beach Estates. The deed conveying Lot 29-A and the \u201cadditional tract\u201d to defendants even stated that the conveyance was made subject to\n[s]uch rights, if any, as may have been dedicated to the other lot owners in Crystal Beach Estates by conveyances referring to that map entitled \u201cPlat of Crystal Beach Estates, Commerical [sic] Section\u201d by J. Walter Jones, Jr., Registered Land Surveyor dated July 1964 which is recorded in Map Book 17, page 30, of the Beaufort County Registry.\nContrary to defendants\u2019 contentions, the area referred to as \u201cBeach\u201d is clearly identifiable. The recorded plat manifests the intention of CLD to set aside all the area north and west of Lot 29-A, south of the Pamlico River, east of Neville Creek, and north of Driftwood Drive to be a private easement for purchasers and owners of all of the lots described and enumerated on the plat of Crystal Beach Estates recorded in Map Book 17, Page 30 of the Beaufort County Registry.\nPlaintiffs and other purchasers and owners of lots described in the recorded plat, therefore as a matter of law, had and have a private easement over and across all of the property designated as \u201cBeach\u201d on the recorded plat of Crystal Beach Estates. The judgment for defendants is reversed and the cause remanded to the Superior Court of Beaufort County for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.\nReversed and remanded.\nJudges Becton and Smith concur.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "HEDRICK, Chief Judge."
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "McLendon & Partrick, P.A., by Neal Partrick, Jr., for plaintiffs, appellants.",
      "Charles L. McLawhom, Jr., for defendants, appellees."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "WILBUR HINSON and Wife, IRENE HINSON v. DAVID HAROLD SMITH and Wife, MAMIE W. SMITH\nNo. 872SC868\n(Filed 1 March 1988)\nDedication \u00a7 2.1\u2014 beach area \u2014 private easement\nThe trial court erroneously granted summary judgment for defendants in an action in which plaintiffs sought a declaratory judgment that an area designated \u201cBeach\u201d in a subdivision developed by defendants\u2019 predecessors in title was dedicated to the private use of the owners and purchasers of lots in the subdivision. Both the street and the \u201cBeach\u201d became private easements when the plat of Crystal Beach Estates was recorded and one lot was sold in reference to the plat.\nAppeal by plaintiffs from Llewellyn, Judge. Judgment entered 13 April 1987 in Superior Court, BEAUFORT County. Heard in the Court of Appeals 10 February 1988.\nThis is a civil action wherein plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment that an area designated as a \u201cBeach\u201d in a subdivision developed by defendants\u2019 predecessors in title is dedicated to the private use of the owners and purchasers of lots in the Crystal Beach Estates subdivision. Plaintiffs also seek a judgment directing defendants to remove any fixtures erected thereon. Further, plaintiffs seek damages in the amount of $2,000.00 actual damages and $10,000.00 punitive damages, together with the cost of the action, including reasonable attorney\u2019s fees. Defendants moved for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure.\nThe record before us discloses the following: In August 1964 Carolina Land Developers, Inc. [hereinafter CLD] recorded a plat of the \u201cCrystal Beach Estates\u201d subdivision in Map Book 17, Page 30 of the Beaufort County Registry. Lots 5, 6, and 7 described on the recorded plat of Crystal Beach Estates were conveyed by CLD to Nannie Mae Hinson by deed recorded 20 August 1971 in Book 672, Page 356 of the Beaufort County Registry. These lots were ultimately conveyed to plaintiffs by deed recorded in Book 836, Page 719 of the Beaufort County Registry.\nOn 11 October 1971 CLD conveyed to defendants\u2019 predecessor in title Lot 29-A described in the recorded plat of Crystal Beach Estates and an additional tract described in metes and bounds. This additional tract was not a numbered lot described in the recorded plat. The additional tract lies approximately north and west of Lot 29-A, south of the Pamlico River, North of Driftwood Drive, and is the most easterly portion of the property designated as \u201cBeach\u201d on the plat of Crystal Beach Estates. The deed conveying Lot 29-A and the additional tract hereinbefore described to defendants stated:\nTO HAVE AND TO HOLD the aforesaid parcel of land together with all privileges and appurtenances thereunto belonging or in anywise appertaining unto Buyers, their heirs and assigns, in fee, forever, subject only to the following:\n3. Such rights, if any, as may have been dedicated to the other lot owners in Crystal Beach Estates by conveyances referring to that map entitled \u201cPlat of Crystal Beach Estates, Commerical [sic] Section\u201d by J. Walter Jones, Jr., Registered Land Surveyor dated July, 1964 which is recorded in Map Book 17, page 30 of the Beaufort County Registry.\nThe trial court granted defendants\u2019 motion for summary judgment and dismissed plaintiffs\u2019 claim for relief.\nMcLendon & Partrick, P.A., by Neal Partrick, Jr., for plaintiffs, appellants.\nCharles L. McLawhom, Jr., for defendants, appellees."
  },
  "file_name": "0127-01",
  "first_page_order": 155,
  "last_page_order": 159
}